Kate Bush – Hounds of Love

A piece of sci-fi narrative kicks the song off, warily leading us to back-up-vocals-falsettos alternating between “doo doo doos” and “ooh ooh oohs”, then lyrical references to a great deal of horror “coming thru the trees!” cruxify the listener in unexplainable suspense as fear and/or apprehension is presented in vague personification as a pursuer of doom. All this while, the synth beats penetrates you and steals your soul away as you lay inert in your own little dream world of maimed foxes and glass slippers lying at the bottom of a lake.


The Verve – The Drugs Don’t Work

The resignation of the first verses sets the mood , what with the eternal bodily struggle against time getting ‘em old folks down. When you close your eyes, you find yourself beach-strolling wearily, toes licked by the backwash surf of bereavement, ever desperate and bothered by a determined willingness to jump in to chase a belief that may not be true. A romanticized notion of death and the destinations it promises. Oh the consolatory balladry of the measured proximity to a lost loved one you would newly acquire once you depart the now-withered, near-expiry,drug-desensitised flesh vessel. Hey, whats the harm in trusting this own little leap of faith.


Postal Service – Nothing Better

A confrontation has never sounded this good, Electronic beats rhythm-ise the heated conversation between a conflicting couple as a frantic boyfriend hits a wall consecutively in his repeated bids to halt the imminent departure of his preferred bride-to-be for “better company”. The catchy, light electronic tune captures the “idealistic future” painted desperately in his promises for a renewed chance yet also does not betray the tender rejection she sentences him with. Its the brink of a break up and the song actually makes it beautiful.


The Strokes – Reptilia

A common argument in justifying their distancing from a refreshing genre entry, following the saturation of the market with Radiohead-esque bands is that there is no technical complexity in their playing, hence the unwillingness to support a more-pop, catchy, marketable tune. This song picks up that elitist rationale, stuffs it into a brown grocery bag and stomps it flat until the juices of defeat stain the pavement. Then we dance trance-like to this super-song.

New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle

Sample lyric:“Everytime I see you falling, I get down on my knees and pray..” Synth-pop cool enough to quote, also, irrisistably charming, the acoustic cover by Frente stole even the hearts of Simple-Plan-loving teenagers everywhere..

The Shins - Kissing The Lipless

The conscious struggle to shed the weight of a past relationship turns into a pretty, verbal probe of the possibility that it can be mended. Past regrets hit hard, current situation obstructs, and general unwillingness to let go makes it all infinitely haunting. In a place where “grass grows on the corners of her bed sheets”, where “tinsel crowns” frame her “ailing heart and criminal eyes”, he reluctantly leaves, sadly knowing he had a big hand in her testing her “mettle, of doe's skin and petals, while kissing the lipless, who bleed all the sweetness away...” Once you recover from being slack-jawed by the brilliance of the lyrics, you will hit repeat.

Mocca - What If

A whole collection of deeply-thought through “what ifs” does its job in teasing our otherwise lukewarm imaginations.
“What if I give you my smile?
Are you gonna stay for a while?
What if I put you in my dreams tonight?
Are you gonna stay until it's bright?”
None of the screaming cacophonies, none of the noisome sounds that drown us on radio nowadays, its all mellow and probably very girlish pink.But I'm not complaining though.

Death From Above 1979 – Turn It Out

Nothing to do with horror-ful retro science fiction, this very male way of meeting relationship problems(by running away) is actually made cool and terribly, terribly fierce.
“Be there for you someday soon.... I know you have so much to say to me, But i'm on the move!” Roar! Oh and bonus points on the merit of the absolutely cool pick for a name.

Mando Diao - Sheepdog

Powerful, pacy and a rockstar way of ensuring unrequited love, a winning formula. This lyrical shunning of a seratonin-charged female groupie(or what comes close) can be forgiven ultimately because as good-looking, young scandinavian rockstars who get all the sex they want, its standard fare and the song is undeniably good.

Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah - In This Home on Ice

“Confusion becomes a philosophy” as we mull over a creeping distrust of “the rust thats on TV”, while a “ravaged cabbage” pretties up “the dark red skies”, above a “startled crowd” who ,fueled by a “fattened cow”,are probably confusedly-intent on lynch-mobbing “unknown enemies”. Such pretty imagery, all to be “just taken in slow, in this home on ice”.

Franz Ferdinand - Fabulously Lazy

“What a singer,
What a dancer,
What a sinner”
What a song... It had me floored at the chorus, and by the end of the song, it had bitch-slapped me to non-consciousness with its utter awesomeness. A splash of beatles brings about the dash of nostalgia while the sheer ingenuity of the whole just brings you impulsively shuffling your feet to the beat, retro riffs, vocals and all.

The Go! Team - LadyFlash

We grinned as we skip-rope, chanting you-go-girl cheers, our hairs bobbing and our hearts racing. That was the story of my childhood. Where adults were relegated to spectators as we make them envy us with our corridor neverland, collectively shouting “2-4-6-8-10!”. The Go team just reminds me of that, even if my childhood was actually spent in the bamboo forests of the Tokugawa era, hunting down traitorous emissaries then cutting them down with the fury and force of my No-Dachi Sword, stylishly.

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ok that "mixed tape" was for the giggly co-editors of prosaic, zainal should be posting his too, that is if he can overcome his dry spell in performing arts as the enigmatic Zai Kuning. Oh, and hello Hakim!